The UK is moving forward with four big projects that are due for completion by 2025. David Powerll, Hitachi’s Europe vice-president stated that “‘The UK is the best place in the world to build nuclear’ as the sector does not face the political opposition found elsewhere.” The government provides a supportive policy for the UK nuclear energy industry and has also made the decommissioning of the country’s coal-fired plants one of the pillars of its energy policy.

Earlier this week the Georgia Public Service Commission voted unanimously to accept a scheduling order on the Plant Vogtle expansion. This is a positive action for the project, which is in the process of building two new reactors, called Plant Vogtle units 3 & 4. These plants will be the first in the industry to use Westinghouse AP1000 advanced pressurized water reactor technology. The project was supposed to be completed in April but has faced several delays. The schedule approved earlier this week includes hearings on cases of staff over a four day period which will take place December 11-14. The Public Service Commission will then make a filing ruling on whether the project can continue by February.

Nuclear fuel that has been reprocessed in France is now returning to Japan in order to be used in a reactor. The use of reprocessed fuel is one of the ways the country is working to shrink its plutonium stockpile, which has been a topic of international concern. The shipment returned to Japan on September 21 and Kansai Electric Power Co. said that the shipment “arrived for use at the No. 4 reactor at its Takahama plant in western Japan.” The reactor is one of the five reactors that is currently operating in Japan. 10 of Japan’s 47 tons of plutonium are located in Britain and France.

Japan’s nuclear watchdog chief, Shunichi Tanaka, is stepping down this week after six years of service. Tanaka took the position as chief of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority after the agency was created in the wake of the 2011 nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant. Tanaka has “overseen screening restart applications for 26 reactors at 16 different power plants. The green light was given to 6 plants.”